A. Hurricane Katrina, which struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in August 2005, was one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history- both economically and in terms of lives lost. Damage to the city of Orleans was estimated at more than 22million dollars. Over one million people were forced out of the city, and nearly 1,500 people lost their lives. At 6.10 a.m. on Monday, August 29Ih, a Category 4 hurricane named Katrina reached the Louisiana coast, destroying almost everything in its path.

B. Five days earlier, on August 24th, the temperature off the coast of the Bahamas was almost 30 degrees Celsius. Humid air was rising upward from the warm waters of the ocean. As the warm, wet air rose, it condensed and formed a system of thunderstorms. This condensation releases heat, which warms the cool air of the atmosphere, causing it to rise. As that air rises, more warm air from the ocean takes its place. This creates a cycle which continuously moves heat from the ocean to the atmosphere. The movement creates a pattern of wind that begins to move around and forms a center. This way Tropical Storm Katrina was bom and had a speed of almost 250 kilometeres an hour.

C. With powerful winds and a giant wave, or storm surge, over six meters high, Katrina was still the most destructive storm to hit the area in 36 years. The danger could no longer be ignored. Once over land, the states of Louisiana and Mississippi became exposed to Katrina’s destructive winds. At the same time, that it was away from the warm waters of the Gulf, the storm began to weaken. A few short hours later, the only thing left of Katrina was the widespread destruction she had left behind.

D. The day before Hurricane Katrina passed close to New Orleans, people were ordered to leave the city. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of them ignored the order or were unable to leave. When Hurricane Katrina hit, water broke through the system of levees and flood walls constructed by government engineers. Many people in low-lying sectors of the city were forced up onto their roofs by the flood water and waited for help to come by boat or helicopter.

E. Circumstances soon grew worse. There were not enough police left in the city, so people were not only exposed to dangerous flood waters but also to widespread crime. There were not enough people in the city to rescue and distribute food and water to those who needed help. Robberies of stores were common. Some people had to do it but only to keep their families and themselves alive. They were left for days without any food or water, like they were just supposed to die.

F. A borrowed hotel curtain hung over street signs provided shelter for one large extended family. “I was starting to think it was going to be our home forever”, Kenneth, 47, said. “They told us every day that buses were going to take us to shelters (a temporary living place).It was just lies and more lies.” People lived without running water or toilets as they waited for help. Dead bodies were left on streets. It was days before the government gained control of the city and remaining people were taken to safety.

G. Some experts believe that rebuilding New Orleans isn’t a good idea. Currently, even a hurricane of average strength could cause flooding in the city again. Global warming is raising sea levels each year, and to make things worse, the land beneath New Orleans is sinking at a rate of up to 2,5 centimeters a year. However, despite the risk, two-thirds of the people who left have returned to help rebuild the city they love.

Several years passed. London was fifteen hundred years old and was a great town — for that time. A hundred thousand people lived in it. The streets were narrow and dirty, especially in the part where the Canty family lived, which was not far from London Bridge.

Tom spent his early years in a very old and dirty house. It was made of wood like all the other houses in that street, and like all the other houses it had small and dirty windows. The street was called Offal Court. The house was full of poor families. Tom's family had one room on the third floor.

Tom's parents had a bed but Tom, his grandmother who lived with them and his two sisters slept on the floor. At night they lay down on rags and covered themselves with rags.

Tom's sisters were twins. They were fifteen years old, and their names were Bet and Nan. They wore dirty clothes and their faces and hands were always dirty too.

But they were good-hearted girls. Their mother was a nice woman who loved her children very much. But Tom's father and the grandmother were not nice people, they were very, very bad. They often drank, and when they were drunk they fought each other and beat the children.

Tom’s father, John Canty, was a thief and Tom's grandmother was a beggar. They made beggars of the children but they could not make thieves of them.

Among the thieves and beggars who lived in the house there was a man who was neither a thief nor a beggar. He was a good old man, a priest, who lived on a small pension of a few farthings. He loved children and was always ready to help them. His name was Father Andrew. The good old priest taught Tom how to read and write. He also taught him a little Latin.

He told Tom many wonderful stories and legends about kings and princes. He also gave Tom books to read. Tom liked to listen to Father Andrew's stories and read the books which the old man gave him. The stories Tom heard and the books he read made some changes in his speech and his manners. Not only the children of Offal Court talked about Tom's correct speech and his good manners. Their parents began to talk about Tom as the cleverest boy who could explain them many things that they did not understand. He really knew so much.

Soon Tom organized a royal court! When the children played, Tom always was the prince, his comrades were lords and ladies and the royal family. After the game was over Tom went out to beg a few farthings, and if he came home without any money his father gave him a hard beating and sent him to bed hungry.

DAYIn an epoch of technical progress, reading books is losing its value. Little by little radio, television and internet are beginning to force books from our _________life. If in the past a lot of the greatest poets and writers, such as Pushkin, Yesenin, Bulgakov created their works, in our day juch masters of words are absent.

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ADVANTAGEWe begin to consider some detective and love stories of poor quality as 'literary works’. It's a big____________for all mankind.

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FAITHA book is a___________ friend for a man. Reading is the thing which helps us to develop our soul, teaches us to get to know our life. The heroes of books, by their examples, help us to avoid mistakes.

You have 30 minutes to do this task. You have received a letter from your English-speaking pen friend, Fred.

...having the Internet is really useful with my schoolwork and catching up with friends... plus I can have chat rooms which are a great way of making friends in different countries. But I don't write anything personal that would let people contact me anywhere except online... How ofter do you use the Internet a day ? Do your parents let you use it any time you want? What are yourfavourite websites ?